The visions of contemporary moving image artist Tulapop Saenjaroen are familiar yet uncanny, amusing but tragic. Saenjaroen’s videos exist in the natural habitat of the twenty-first-century digital native with formal elements like graphic overlays, filters, captions, abrupt commercial break-like cuts, machine-voiced guided tours, soothing background music, and voiceovers with references to self-care. The works in this screening manifest a contemporary condition where soul-searching is uniquely empowered via virtual means. Through familiar notions and images, Saenjaroen creates a commentary on introspection, friendship, and modern discourse.

Whether it is familiarising oneself with unfamiliar territory, digital, or otherwise in A Room with a Coconut View or examining the merits of the weekend art gig in the context of the productivity-industrial complex in People on Sunday, the selected works affirm the importance of our screen-based personas. As reflected in Squish!—where a disembodied ear says: ‘I’ve never been real, but I exist’ while being hand drawn—Saenjaroen’s work proclaims that the best proof of our existence resides within the conversations we have with our digital selves.

The screening on 4 March will be followed by a post-screening talk in English with artist Tulapop Saenjaroen via video call, and M+ Associate Curator of Moving Image Chanel Kong.

Tulapop Saenjaroen (b. 1986, Thailand) is an award-winning Bangkok—based artist and filmmaker. Intertwining narrative and the essay film genres, his works examine the notions of tourism, self-care, mental illness, and free labour. Saenjaroen’s projects draw attention to the political potential of image production, screen-based subjectivity, and the interplay between control and freedom in the context of late capitalism. A co-founder of the experimental film and media screening series Rapid Eye Movement, his works have been exhibited internationally, including at the Locarno Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Museum of the Moving Image, and many others.